Product Reviews

My brother served a LDS mission in Germany and brought this game
home to our family. We all love it! I have searched all over the place for
it and can only find it on line. I think it is good for playing with my kids
as well as with adults. it gets you thinking and using your math skills! I
want to buy this game for all my friends to play with their families!

Recently bought this game for our library. It was bought as a math
game and has turned out to be a great game. Take the fun of bingo and
add the skill of doing a jigsaw puzzle and you have Take it Easy.

One other note if you have to make a mistake and an order a game
twice this is one to do it with. Accidentally ordered two copies for the
libraries but, now we have the ability to have a giant Take it Easy
game. Another plus was that my coworker and I both got to test out
the game at home. My nephew is getting one for his birthday. Gee, one
game sold to the same person three times. That is a great game.

Know someone who enjoys “Bingo”? If so, introduce them to Take it
Easy. It will rock their world. What’s better, the game is FAR superior
to Bingo, and seems to be universally popular. I’ve now played it nearly
one-hundred times since first being introduced to it about ten years
ago, and have returned the favor by introducing it to well over a
hundred folks. To my knowledge, not one has expressed distaste for
the game. Indeed, it has been widely hailed and praised.

So just what is Take it Easy? Other than a famous rock / country song
by the musical group the Eagles, it is a wonderful, highly-addictive
puzzle-like game by British designer Peter Burley. Originally published in
1983, the game has been consistently available from various publishers
for over twenty-five years. The latest edition, which can accommodate
up to six players, is once again receiving wide distribution throughout
the United States and Europe, and is destined to continue the game’s
popularity and appeal.

Each player receives a hexagon-shaped board with nineteen spaces, as
well as a set of twenty-seven tiles. Each tile depicts three lines that
crisscross the tile, each having a different value and color. The
numbers range from one-to-nine, with all lines of a particular number
going in the same direction. For example, all “nines” are vertical, while
all “threes” cut across a tile on an upwards angle, right-to-left. This is
important knowledge when playing the game.

One set of tiles is inverted and revealed one-at-a-time. As each tile is
revealed, its values are called aloud. Each player then finds their
matching tile, and places it on an empty space on their board. Once
placed, the tile cannot be moved. This process continues until all
players fill their entire board with tiles. Naturally, this occurs
simultaneously.

The object is to form contiguous lines of identical numbers, vertically
and along the two diagonals. Tiles that interrupt a complete line of
identical numbers nullify that line, which means that particular line will
not score. The more complete lines of identical numbers a player can
form, the higher his score.

Scoring is a bit mathematical, but not too daunting. To calculate one’s
score, each complete line – there are fifteen potential lines – is
examined. A line’s score is equal to the number on the tile multiplied by
the number of tiles in that line. For example, if a player managed to get
four “fives” in a complete row, he would score twenty points for that
line (5 x 4 = 20). A player tallies the scores for each complete line to
arrive at his total. The player with the highest total is victorious.

It almost sounds too simple … but it isn’t. Sure, the rules are easy, and
players can learn to play almost instantly. Playing well, however, is
another story. Decisions must be made as to where to place each tile
as the number is called. Since there are more tiles than spaces, not all
tiles will be placed. Thus, players cannot count on a specific tile
being “called”. The natural urge is to place the higher-valued numbers
on the longer lines. For example, placing the “nine” tiles along the long,
five-space rows is a popular tactic. However, one must hope that
five “nine” value tiles will be called. There are an amazing number of tile-
placement options during the game, although these options steadily
reduce as one’s board fills. While there are choices to be made, luck
does play a role, as no one can accurately and consistently predict the
tiles that will be drawn.

The game never fails to elicit a variety of outbursts, as players urge
the “caller” to pick a certain tile, hoping that fate is with them. Of
course, when the correct tile is pulled, there are frequent shouts of
jubilation, while cries of despair often follow the calling of an undesired
tile. Truth-be-told, one has no control over this, but it is fun to play
the odds and hope for a desired tile to be called. After each game,
there is that inescapable feeling that you could have done better if you
had just placed one tile differently, or if a desired tile had been called.
There is also a nagging urge to play it again, just one more time!

About the only knock I’ve heard against the game is that it is the very
definition of “multi-player solitaire”. That is, each player plays their own
game without any influence or interference from their opponents. That
is a completely fair description of the game … but so what? It is not
meant to be a highly interactive game. Rather, it is meant to be a fun,
puzzle-like game that that challenges players to optimize their score.
The game is wildly successful in meeting that objective.

Take it EasyIt's a puzzle, it's a maze, it's a game! It's all three and much more! Place your pieces one at a time on the board. Try to form continuous rows of color from edge to edge. But one wrong tile and the whole row is worthless. It gets harder and harder as the number of empty spaces on your board and your possible choices diminish, since once a tile is placed it cant be moved! Everyone has the same chance as everyone else because everyone plays the same tiles in the same order. But all the boards will be different at the end and only one player will have used the tiles the best way, scored the most points, and won the game. Works well with ages 9+.